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Juárez dentist develops process to ID remains

Dr. Alejandro Hernandez Cardenas and his assistants prepare to work on a mummified corpse found in Juarez. Hernandez has developed a technique for rehydrating cadavers and extracting DNA material from them in hopes of identifying people who have died. (Jesus Alcazar / El Paso Times)

JUAREZ -- The sound of clanking chains and the smell of putrid flesh fill the small lab where forensic odontologist Alejandro Her nández Cárdenas and his assistants work.

At the moment, Hernández is directing his two assistants to place the decomposed body of a man who was found hanging on a crane inside a plastic tub filled with water and chemicals.

As the cadaver is submerged in the liquid solution, reversal of the decomposition process begins.

Hernández, who works at the forensic science lab in Juárez, has developed a rehydration technique that is capable of bringing back mummified human remains in advanced stages of decomposition to their condition at the time of death.

The process has helped identify people and, in some cases, solve the mysteries surrounding their deaths, said Hernández, who has been using and improving the technique for the last eight years.

His work is a major contribution to forensic science and offers another tool to the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office to identify a person who has died.

"This technique offers the possibility to have solid elements to identify someone that otherwise couldn't be done, with the exception of DNA testing," said Daniel Jaramillo Vela, director of Forensic and Expert Services of the Attorney General's Office.

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Hernández described his work as something that would befit Dr. Frankenstein -- a nickname he has acquired.

"For many, what I do may be creepy, but for me, it's science and it is amazing," said the 55-year-old dentist, who specializes in forensic dentistry.

The body parts or corpses that undergo his rehydration technique recover their human appearance after they are treated in a chemical solution. Decomposed remains can take from three to seven days to rehydrate, while mummified bodies can take up to 12 days, he said.

Not only does the skin recover its pink appearance from a pale brownish, yellowish or black color, but other individual features can also return.

"We can recover their fingerprints and any scars, birthmarks or tattoos they had that can help identify them. Also, we can learn how they died because wounds and even bruises become visible," Hernández said.

The Forensic and Expert Services office does not have statistics on how many cases have been solved using the rehydration technique.

Hernández Cárdenas said he does not know how many corpses or body parts have undergone the rehydration technique in the "Jacuzzi," as he called the tub with the chemical solution.

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Lorena Figueroa

However, he has used the process more than a hundred times on corpses, most of them of men, including some who have died of natural causes, he said.

Cecilia Espinoza, a member of Red Mesa de Mujeres, a group that works for the eradication of violence against women, had not heard about the rehydration technique. She said all of the female human remains that have been found in Juárez and subsequently identified as one of the many women who have gone missing over the years have only undergone DNA testing.

Hernández explained the rehydration technique only works when human remains still have tissue. Most of the remains believed to be from the missing women are merely bones.

Rehydrating body parts and corpses is not something that he intended to do when he was hired at the forensic science lab to analyze cadaver teeth a decade ago, Hernández said.

Back then, forensic experts had a hard time determining cause of death or identifying corpses or body parts that arrived at the laboratory in mummified condition -- most of them after being exposed to the harsh conditions of the Juárez desert.

"I was motivated to begin experimenting when I saw that dozens of those unidentified bodies had to be buried in mass graves and the desperation of families of the disappeared trying to find their loved ones. It was cruel," he said.

During the free time he got from handling dentistry for evidence, Hernández began experimenting with a dozen formulas -- some of them available since 1904 -- in criminology and forensic anthropology books.

"At first, I began with human fingers and, when I did not have any available, I used pieces of pork skin--which is comparable with human skin," he said.

Then, one day, after two years of experimenting, he examined a finger from a mummified body that he had put in a jar days before, he said.

"I thought my coworkers were pulling a joke on me," he remembered. "But they said they weren't mingling with my cochinadas or filthiness."

Since then, Hernández has improved his formula and used it on other body parts and corpses. About five years ago, he began trying his formula on decomposed bodies like the one he was working on recently.

The body of a man in his 60s was found inside a house in February. Although the cause of death was poisoning by carbon monoxide, the victim had not yet been identified.

Within a few days, the corpse had recovered its human appearance and was ready to be fingerprinted, photographed and have DNA samples taken for testing.

The rehydration technique that Hernández uses is unique in Mexico and, maybe, in the world.

"We know that in many other places it is used on fleshy parts or fingertips to recuperate the papillary dermis -- the uppermost layer of the dermis -- to have a fingerprint. But we do not have any news that this technique is used on complete extremities or bodies," Jaramillo Vela, of the Attorney General's Office, said.

Hernández has kept secret what chemicals he uses because he is awaiting a patent application to be approved, hopefully this year.

He said that once his formula is patented, he plans to share it.

For now, he continues helping local and out-of-state police in their investigations and giving conferences about his rehydration technique in Mexico and other countries.

Hernández recognized his method does not guarantee that all mummified or decomposed bodies will be identified or that the cause of death will be determined.

However, he said, the rehydration technique is much cheaper than DNA testing, which can cost up to $640 a test.

He said he only spends a maximum of $36 in chemicals for his formula to rehydrate an entire body.

The method also gives clues about foul play. If a wound produced by a lethal weapon appears in a rehydrated corpse, police may begin a criminal investigation that can lead to an arrest, he said.

Hernández, who is a father of three adult children, considers himself a common person hot loves his job and enjoys giving classes at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, or UACJ, and seeing elderly patients at his dentist's office in the evenings.

"I don't think I have anything special. I just like to put in my two cents to help my city," he said.

Lorena Figueroa may be reached at lfigueroa@ elpasotimes.com; 546-6129.